Revelation 20:1-3 - He threw him into the Abyss

20:1,2

We now come to one of the most contentious passages in the book, the millenium. There are three main views of this, though there are numerous variations within each one of the main lines of interpretation. These three views are: pre-millennial, post-millennial, and amillennial. Pre-millennial sees the return of Christ and the resurrection of the believers who have died. Those Christians who are still alive will be caught up with Christ (1 Thess 4:17). They will then reign with Christ on earth for a thousand years. In all interpretations “thousand years” may be literal or symbolic. Postmillennialists see Christ returning at the end of the thousand years. The thousand years could be the triumph of the gospel during the church age, or a period at the end of time. Amillennialists do not think that there is a literal thousand year period, but see the millennium as being the church age, i.e. the time between the first and second coming of Christ. Each of the views has problems! Morris also makes the significant observation that the chapter itself shows no interest in the return of Christ at this point! So we should beware of getting hung up or obsessed with any one theory! Instead we should focus on what the text actually says. The purpose of the text is not to prove one of our theories, but to glorify Christ and to strengthen the persecuted church.

So Satan is bound for a thousand years. It is an angel that binds him, not Christ. This puts him in his place. The devil is given all four of his “names”, the dragon, the serpent, the devil and Satan. 

20:3

Why is Satan bound? So that he cannot deceive the nations anymore. It would seem that Satan has been doing lots of deceiving over the last two thousand years, which does seem to rather argue against the amillennial approach. After the thousand years he will be released for a short time. So why is this happening? One of the arguments often produced is that if only God had made His presence more obvious, if only there had not been so much deception, humans would have all been very nice and good. I.e. Everything is determined by our environment. So there will be a time when there is a perfectly good environment, and there will be no deception. So everyone will have had the chance to experience the perfect kingdom of God. After this period Satan will be released again and many will follow him. This will demonstrate the inherent sinfulness of man.